Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist (Pain)

Greater Manchester Mental Health; Greater Manchester; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mental health organization in Greater Manchester is seeking a Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist to join community pain services. The role involves working autonomously to provide psychological assessment and therapy for clients with complex needs, along with multidisciplinary collaboration. Candidates should hold a doctoral qualification in psychology and experience in physical health settings.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Cycle to work scheme

Salary sacrifice car scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in working with client groups in a physical health setting.
• Expertise in applying cognitive-behavioral approaches.
• Ability to manage complex psychological care.

Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality specialist practitioner psychology service.
• Liaise with multi-disciplinary teams for client care.
• Utilize research skills for audit and policy development.

Skills

Cognitive-behavioral approaches

Clinical psychology

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Education

Professional qualification in Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychology at doctoral level

Registration as a practitioner psychologist with the HCPC

Job description

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Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist (Pain), Greater Manchester

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Client:

Greater Manchester Mental Health

Location:

Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

c27fdeb37fb9

Job Views:

6

Posted:

12.08.2025

Expiry Date:

26.09.2025

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Job Description:

Job overview

Band 8a Practitioner Psychologist (

Band 7 preceptorship available

This is an exciting opportunity to join two highly regarded and established community pain services in South Manchester (2 days) and Trafford (3 days).

We are seeking applications from established HCPC registered Practitioner Psychologists, ideally with experience in physical health ( working in Pain services) as well as a familiarity and commitment to working within an MDT and community settings.

You will work as an independent Practitioner Psychologist with your own clinical case load; as well contribute to staff consultation, research and multidisciplinary work.

The post holder will be supported and supervised by a senior Practitioner Psychologist working in Pain Services in South Manchester. The successful candidate will have appropriate access to in-house and specialist CPD.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide a high-quality specialist practitioner psychology service to service users of the Trafford and South Manchester Community Pain services. The post holder will be an active member of the pain teams and will liaise across all sectors of care, providing highly specialist, psychological assessment and therapy for clients with complex psychological needs, offering advice and consultation on client’s psychological care to non-psychologist colleagues, as well as to other non-professional carers and workers of other agencies where appropriate.

To work autonomously within professional guidelines and the overall framework of the team and Trust’s policies and procedures. To utilise research skills for audit, policy and research within the area served by the teams / service.

To agree, in conjunction with Psychological Services management, the appropriate utilization of psychological resources to the teams. To contribute to the provision of team services and fulfilment of team priorities and objectives.

Working for our organisation

Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Foundation Trust employs over 7000 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 122 locations.

We provide inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford,Trafford and the borough of Wigan, and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

Greater Manchester is one of the world's most innovative, original and exciting places to live and work. From the beauty of the surrounding countryside to the heart of the vibrant inner city with great shopping, entertainment and dining options.

Wherever you go you will experience a great northern welcome with people famed for their warmth, humour and generosity.

Our people enjoy their work, have opportunities to learn and develop their skills and are encouraged to generate new ideas that improve care for our service users.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 29 after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years
• Cycle to work scheme
• Salary sacrifice car scheme

Person specification

Qualifications

• Professional qualification in Clinical/Counselling/Health Psychology at doctoral level (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS.
• Registration as a practitioner psychologist with the HCPC.
• Training in one or more additional specialised areas of psychological relevance ( staff training, research methodology, and / or other fields of applied psychology)

Experience

• Experience of working with client groups in a physical health setting, presenting with the full range of clinical severity. This includes maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the possible threat of physical abuse.
• Experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling/health psychologist less experienced candidates will be appointed at Band 7 and work towards 8A competencies)
• Experience in the application of cognitive-behavioural approaches to clinical settings.
• Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients’ psychological care and treatment.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary team.
• Experience of working within Pain Services, delivering pain management programmes.
• Experience of providing supervision and training

Knowledge

• Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of practitioner psychology.
• Knowledge of the theory and practice of at least two specialised psychological therapies.
• Knowledge of legislation in relation to clients of the pain service, and of relevant mental health legislation.

Skills

• Skills in the use of complex methods of psychological assessment, intervention and management frequently requiring sustained and intense concentration.
• Ability to work effectively within a multi-disciplinary team and to liaise effectively with other professionals
• Skills in providing consultation to other professionals and non-professional groups.
• Formal training in supervision of other psychologists

Other

• Ability to travel to a range of locations in a timely and efficient manner.
• Experience of working within a multicultural framework.

The Trust mandates all post holders who require a DBS for their role to subscribe to the DBS Update Service. You will be required to enrol for this service for a fee of £16 per year and maintain registration throughout your employment with GMMH.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for posts at Greater Manchester Mental Health who have direct experience of mental health, learning disability or drug and alcohol services either as a service user or a carer.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We are aspiring to ensure our workforce is representative of the diverse communities that we serve, and we are strongly committed to removing barriers to employment for candidates from under-represented groups, for example BAME, Disabled and LGBT+ communities. If you would like to have an informal chat about the recruitment process for this role or would value some additional support, we’d love to hear from you.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when writing job applications

A candidate may utilise the help of AI when writing job application.The assessment of an application is made on its entirety and most times AI-generated content does not fully grasp the context and requirements of the job one applies for thus producing inaccurate and misleading information, especially in the supporting statement section of an application that can lack real life examples of one’s achievements, success and challenges.

We have added a disclaimer to our application process advising that the use of AI is monitored. GMMH reserves the right to follow up with a candidate at the interview on specific responses and those examples used in the supporting statement to explore it further.

Sponsorship

We are proud to be an approved sponsor for the Skilled Worker visa. Applications from individuals who require sponsorship will be considered alongside all other applications. Please be aware that not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible roles and salary requirements on the UK Government’s website – click.

If you are offered a role with us and you require sponsorship, we will check your eligibility in line with the information on the above website. Your offer of employment could be withdrawn if the role is not eligible for sponsorship, and you are not otherwise able to evidence your right to work in the UK.

The Home Office introduces new changes from 22/07/2025 that impact the health and care sector, you may wish to familiarise with it .

Do you have experience outside the NHS?

We want to attract and retain people with diverse skills and experience, to deliver inclusive healthcare services to our communities.

We will consider relevant experience outside the NHS to calculate your salary on appointment.